Thursday, December 25, 2008

Christmas Day 2008

On this Christmas Day, when our country is so divided by secularism, separation of Church and state and other divisive sentiments, I have decided to reprint the following article. This essay was adapted from a sermon by Dr James Allan Francis in “The Real Jesus and Other Sermons” © 1926 by the Judson Press of Philadelphia (pp 123-124 titled “Arise Sir Knight!”). A similar version was published by syndicated columnist Jim Bishop one Christmas morning in his weekly column. I believe that it brings the true meaning of Christmas into focus for many people, both Christians and non-Christians. May you have a very happy and blessed Christmas this year.

One Solitary Life

There is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher.

He never owned a home. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put His foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself...

While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves. While He was dying His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth – His coat. When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.

Nineteen long centuries have come and gone, and today He is a centerpiece of the human race and leader of the column of progress.

I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that were ever built; all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that one solitary life.


1 comment:

Mia @ The Chronicles of Chaos said...

Hi Brian, it's Mia. Charlie & I have started a blog, too. Copying is the sincerest form of flattery, right? :-) Check it out.

http://thesuttonfamily1.blogspot.com/

and e-mail us at: thesuttonfamily1@gmail.com